Road Trip Checklist

We're heading to Sacramento to play a show on Saturday. This is our first show in Sacramento after we left three years ago and we're all very excited to see old friends and share the stage with some awesome bands.
The drive is about 560 miles and in a normal band (without a married couple who has a child) that would mean about 10 hours in a van together. Hayden's coming with us, acting as our manager of sorts. But really it's because he loves road trips too and has lots of fans that want to see him. Chris and Rob are taking a van to hold all our gear and we're lucky our friend Dave decided to come with us cause with my car issues we didn't have a car to hold all of us.

So I'm prepping for our road trip and thought I'd share my checklist.

For Hayden:
1. The portable DVD player to watch in the car along with at least 3 DVDs. His choices are Megamind, Rango, and Teen Titans Season 1.

2. Ritz Cheese Crackers.

3. Robots.

He's pretty easy, these were his only demands.

For me:
1. Three days worth of clothes and make-up which includes the "Show outfit." The show is a "Metal Prom" with a photo booth and promotions so I'm definitely rocking a hot 'fit.

2. Smell good stuff. Plenty of body spray to make sure the 10 hour drive in a truck with 2 adult men and a little boy doesn't stink me out.

3. Pillows. I'm sure I'll be stuck in the back of the truck cab with the kid so I'll need at least one big pillow.

4. Vitamin Water. I gotta have my vitamin water.

5. A cool friend who will watch Hayden the night of the show. Thanks Sarah!


For The Band:

1. Another cool friend who will let us crash at his house. Thanks Jimmy!

2. The Iphone for games, tunes, camera and directions.

3. The backup GPS in case my phone goes wonky.

4. Business cards. We have business cards with a QR code on them that goes straight to our iTunes store. It's just common sense to have cards at all times.

5. Merch. We have cds, stickers, shirts, and more that we can sell to cover gas from the trip. Another item of band common sense.

We haven't made a long road trip in quite a while so it should be fun. I will post on the road hopefully.


We're excited....

Weekend Redux: Winter Gaming

Most people don't realize that it gets cold here in Las Vegas during the winter and it even snows.
During the cold season I love to curl up on the couch and soak myself in movies and video games.
We dove in head first this weekend into our winter routine. We started playing inFAMOUSand finished it on Sunday.
We then decided to trade in some old games and got three new ones for each of us. When we were at the game store the young (maybe 18 or 19 year old)  clerk asked if one of the games was for Brian and I said "No, it's for me." He looked up at me shocked and said "Wow, we just ... don't get a lot of girl gamers in here..." and smiled big. About three minutes later he asked if it was too warm in there or if it was just him. I thought it was funny and flattering at the same time.

Hayden found a Spongebob game for his PS2 and we got L.A. Noire and Legendary.

We started LA NOIRE right away. It's one of the most amazing games I've ever played, hands down.



I love the design aesthetic and the story line. It's so awesome I had dreams about it.

Ready for some awesome please.

Ever have a month of all bad? Yeah this last month and a half has been that for me.
I'm very grateful for what I do have going good for me and I don't think my problems are any worse than anyone else's. Although, I would like the awesome stuff to start happening right about now. Please.

We had a great thanksgiving with our friends and Hayden was so excited for it to be over so he could start saying "Merry Christmas" to everyone. He watched over my cooking by laying on the floor in the kitchen and attacking it with his "robots."

When I took the turkey out of the bag to prep it Hayden was not impressed.

The other day I ran to the store and came home to our Christmas tree in the living room. Hayden had told Brian he wanted to cheer me up by surprising me with the Christmas decorations. So we forgot about my car issues for a little while and decorated the house.

Thankful

 A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues  - Marcus Tullius Cicero

I'm thankful for so many things this year.
My husband Brian is of course number one. He's the greatest best friend and partner. I never imagined we would be celebrating our 13th Thanksgiving together.

My son Hayden is so amazing. He's the cutest kid in the world, so kind and loving he just brightens up every day.

We have an amazing couple of guys Chris and Rob who make our band .bipolar. still fun and exciting. We've played some pretty awesome shows this year and wrote some of the best songs of our career. We're working on new exciting things and ready to bust them out soon.

My friends, my job, and our sweet doggy Barley are all great too.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Traditions

Since Brian and I have been together I absolutely LOVE having our own traditions. This is the time of year when my Domestic Rockstar-ness really shines.
He kind of had no idea when we first started dating how much of a big deal I make out of the holidays, and now he loves it as much as I do.
This is our 13th Thanksgiving together and out of the 13 I've only not cooked the full T-Day meal 3 times.
I hear people complain and whine about the hectic stress of Thanksgiving and I know a lot of people who would rather just do nothing and really I'd much rather engulf myself in the fun of it than be a scrooge.

Our tradition for Turkey Day is pretty standard but special to us since neither one of our families really had "traditions."
Brian makes an awesome breakfast then I cook all day while he watches football and we usually have dinner with whichever good friends are not able to join their families. It's always a blast and I cannot wait! I am preparing my menu now and can't wait to try some new recipes for side dishes...thank you foodnetwork

The Unattainable Christmas Wishlist

If I could seriously have everything I wanted for Christmas this would be my list.

 

1. 2008 Toyota 4Runner. Yup my dream car.  2. Skull & Bones Ring from Plasticland. 

3. Apple MacBook Air 13.3-Inch Laptop) 4. Bat Mirror from Katz 5. Nikon Coolpix L110 (Red)

1.Lancaster Dining Table from Pottery Barn 2. Metro Parsons Chair Lime 3. Batman: Arkham City4.Book of Shadows IV from Urban Decay  5.Ugg Australia Cardy Boots 6. Pair of Horn Snake Spirals: 4g

So Apprently the Universe was not listening...

In the words of 50 Cent (and many other people throughout the years) "When it rains it Pours."
A long list of pretty crappy things have happened to totally screw with my positive outlook, finances, and sanity in the last three weeks. And then my car decided to join in the ranks of things working against me.
I can't afford to register it (5 months passed due now), I can't afford to make a payment (1 month past due now) and I can't afford to fix it (power windows, windshield, and now the transmission). I think at this point I'm just going to call the bank and tell them to take it, once I have anything towards another vehicle.

If I could ride a bike to work, to take Hayden to school everyday, and to band practice I would. But unfortunately it's just not feasible. Even the bus won't work for me right now. 
And the car couldn't wait 7 more months when Hayden was done with half day school?

So yeah, I feel like fate keeps sucker punching me in the gut.

Weekend Redux: Food fight, Wedding, and Relaxation

When I try to explain to people that Hayden is a picky eater they always give me suggestions. But they really don't understand the battle I deal with when I try to bribe him like this...

We attended a beautiful wedding on Friday for our friends Kelly and Ken. Hayden danced the night away and kept everyone entertained.
The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing together watching movies and keeping warm.

In case the universe is listening...

FOR once I would like to get a paycheck, look at it and not feel a huge wave of depression wash over me as I try to calculate just how much I'm going to be short on paying all my bills. I would love to feel "WOW, this will take care of EVERYTHING!" While jumping for joy and shooting fireworks out of my breasts like Katy Perry. Yeah, me and the other 99% of Americans.
But I'm not into the protesting like "some" of the "others" (please note my completely acceptable use of parentheses), I'm into working my 8 hours and posting ads on craigslist to try and drum up some freelance work. I'm into trying to find legal ways to make extra money cause I don't get paid to occupy anything other than my cubicle. But I'm not alone; Generation X is a vast sea of being "awarded for victories, not participation..."

A Golden Glow

While driving to work this morning, kind of spacing out on the traffic in front of me, while keeping my 55 mph steady, a golden glow shot through my passenger window and warmed over my dashboard. I looked to my left and saw the towering gold building that is the Mandalay Bay hotel.
There are so things that make me hate living in Las Vegas; the people that are fake friends and flakes, the struggling music scene trying to compete with the entertainment on the Strip and the abundance of superficiality. Yet in that moment I smiled and thought of all the things I love about living here; the beauty of a huge landscape built of lights and shiny buildings, the fresh new generation thriving to build Vegas' art, literature, fashion and music, and the dreamlike glow of opportunities waiting to be captured.

Weekend Redux in pictures

We had a great weekend. It started out with getting Hayden's first school pictures! We think these are the coolest Kindergarten pictures ever.

Then my dad showed Hayden how cool riding a unicycle is.

He also got to buy a new robot, who he named METAL!

 

Then discovered some of the many things a bandana can do, like turn you into a biker.

And we BBQ'd some kabobs!

Things I love about this season

These are my favorite things about this time of year....

1. Baking Goodies.I made some special treats for my friend's birthday gift last night. (I'll share more later. I don't want to ruin the surprise.)

2. Comfy blankets. I found an awesome soft throw blanket with skulls all over it at Ross in September. Hayden and I have been quietly fighting over it. He'll drag it upstairs to use in his bed and I'll drag it back downstairs to cuddle with on the couch.

3. Teddy Bear Sweaters. A long time ago I bought Brian this over-sized green comfy sweater. When he wears it I just wanna snuggle with him like he's a teddy bear.

4. Hot chocolate. There are so many yummy things to keep us warm but Hot chocolate is one of my favorites. If you add a half teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch of chili powder to your hot chocolate it adds a little more kick that warms you right up. You can look up other great recipes for Mexican Hot Chocolate.

5. The colors. Fall's palette of rich reds, oranges, and browns are a standard but one of my favorite colors to rock in the fall is purple. I love my purple eyeshadow, nail polish, and sweaters.

6. BEER. Sam Adams has always been one of my favorite Beers. They have the best seasonal variety packs. This year they included an amazement called Black & Brew, a coffee stout. It's so new I couldn't find anything on the Sam Adams website about it.

7. Football.  Brian is the type of guy that has to watch EVERY game and last year he wasn't as into watching the games at home as much, but this year it's back to being fun.

8. Scents. A long time ago my mom bought me this awesome Yankee Candle Tart Warmer the fall and winter time is when I really love to use it. The seasonal scents warm up the house and last forever. I buy the tarts at Bed Bath and Beyond but you can browse all the available scents here http://www.yankeecandle.com/yankee-candles/tarts.

9. Apples. Apple tarts, apple pie, fresh apple picking. Who doesn't love apples?

10. Fuzzy Slippers. Anyone who has been to my house knows I love to rock my fuzzy slippers year round but they just seem extra special in the cold weather. I have a thing about bare feet and I have to either be wearing socks or slippers at all times when at home. 

Best. Show. Ever.

Due to some life that happened, I really didn't get to write about one of the best experiences I ever had as a vocalist in a band.
We got offered an opportunity to play at the House of Blues inside Mandalay Bay.  It's the biggest venue we'd been offered a show at so of course we jumped at the chance.

We practiced our eight song set as much as we could when Brian and I returned from Washington. All of us were excited about this show.
It was a local band showcase and we were playing with four other bands that we knew.

They gave us the third slot was a perfect spot for a five band show.
We got an awesome backstage room that we shared with one of the bands we're friends with.

I was quite nervous when I first walked out on stage. The crowd was all over the place and it didn't look like there was a decent size crowd, and I was wearing some pretty tall heels. But when Rob (guitars) struck up the first chord the crowd gathered in towards the floor and filled the area in front of the stage.
We performed great and in my opinion, put on a good show.

After our set we went out to the bar and greeted some of our friends.
One of the best feelings after a show is when people you don't know walk up and commend you on your performance.

We've had eight years of some pretty awesome experiences and shows, but overall this took #1 on the top 10 best shows in my life.

Post Halloween

.After having to convince Hayden that the Jengo Fett costume from last year, which he had worn to school and ripped in the crotch and on the backside wasn't going to work for trick or treating he settled with the crazy mirror mask he bought last month.

Stranger giving him candy: Wow, that's a cool mask! What are you?
Hayden: ... A guy with a cool mask

He had a great Halloween. This was the first year he was totally stoked about trick or treating. He got into his own routine of knocking, ringing the doorbell, saying trick or treat then closing with Happy Halloween! He crashed out hard after a good hour and a half of sugared up craziness and the grown ups got to relax with some beer and scary movies.